


bright star

by evie_maria



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, london setting, lots of fluff, possible adashi in future chapters, slight angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-30 06:04:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17218373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evie_maria/pseuds/evie_maria
Summary: Keith has just moved into his older brother's London apartment. Lance is a university student who lives across the hallway. They hate each other, until they don't.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hello!!   
> This is the first multichapter fic I've posted in nearly a year. I hope y'all aren't tired of klance because I still have so much I wanna write for this iconic pairing. I love them so much??   
> hopefully my writing will improve as this goes on but it's just gonna be light fluff and shenanigans with a bit of angst here and there. I'll try and make it as long as possible.  
> it's set in London because I thought rather than constantly looking up the American words for things, I'll just stick to what I know.
> 
> enough of me rambling, please enjoy the fic!!
> 
> (the title is from John Keats's last sonnet)

“Keith, I’m just going to the shop for some groceries. Behave yourself while I’m gone, okay?”

Keith grunted, absorbed in the task of unpacking all his belongings and finding somewhere to put them. His new room was small, but cosy, with brown panels on the floor and walls painted pale yellow. He’d only arrived two hours ago, and it still hadn’t fully sunk in that he was in England.

The front door slammed, indicating that his older brother had left. He removed his last item of clothing from his suitcase, unfolded it, put it on a hanger and shoved it into the wardrobe before walking over to the window, resting his elbows on the sill and pressing his nose against the glass. It looked out onto a busy London street. Everything looked so different, even the people. A huge park was just opposite their block of flats. In the distance, the River Thames wound through the city, and above it was the Tower Bridge.

His dad had been right. A change of scene _was_ good. Although he’d never admit it to Shiro, he couldn’t wait to go outside and start exploring.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang, the sound piercing through the small building, and Keith pulled away from the window with a sigh. His first thought being that Shiro must have locked himself out somehow, he turned the key and opened the door, eyebrows raised.

A boy- or rather, young man- about his age was standing in the hall, and he looked surprised to see Keith. “Is Shiro home?” he blurted out.

Keith scowled. An innocent question shouldn’t have annoyed him so much, but he was sick of everyone fawning over Shiro and not caring about him. “No,” he replied. “Who are you?”

“I’m Lance. I live just across the hall,” said the boy, gesturing with his thumb at the door behind him.

Keith nodded slowly. Lance was tall, maybe an inch or so taller than Keith, and he was lean. He wore a faded pair of jeans, a blue shirt and a brown hoodie that looked like it had never seen the inside of a washing machine. His chocolate coloured hair curled slightly, and his warm brown skin complimented his ocean blue eyes. Not that any of that _mattered_ , but Keith was allowed to check out cute boys. And Lance was definitely cute.

And annoying.

“I left my key in the apartment this morning,” he explained. “And my friend is out, so I can’t get in until he comes back. I was wondering if I could chill in here until then.”

Keith frowned. He’d rather eat Shiro’s toenails than chill with a complete stranger. “No, you can’t.”

“Oh, come onn,” whined Lance, sticking his foot through the doorway in case Keith tried to close it. “Shiro _always_ lets me.”

The corners of Keith’s mouth twitched slightly. “This is a regular occurrence, then?”

“You’d be surprised.”

Keith sighed. “Well, I guess this _is_ Shiro’s apartment, so…come on in.”

Lance beamed. There are some people who smile only with their lips, and there are others who smile with their eyes and even their nose, so their entire face lights up like the sun. Lance was in the latter camp.

Keith stood aside to let this annoying boy with the sunshine smile into the room, and closed the door behind him. He trudged over to the couch and sat down, automatically picking up his phone, as he always did in awkward social situations. Lance had already taken residence in the comfiest armchair. _He probably knows this apartment better than I do,_ Keith realised.

Seeing that Keith was on his phone, Lance had pulled his from his pocket too, but discarded it two minutes later in favour of talking. “You know, you didn’t tell me your name.”

“Sorry, what?” Keith took out his earphones.

“What’s your name?” Lance asked.

“I’m Keith. Keith Kogane.”

“Cool.” Lance brought his legs up onto the chair and curled them underneath him, eyeing Keith curiously. “So, who are you? Shiro’s boyfriend?”

Keith gagged. “ _Boyfriend?_ He’s my brother, you freak!”

“Alright, mullet, cool it with the insults! How was I to know? You two don’t look alike,” argued Lance.

“Well, he _is_ my brother, and I’ve just moved in with him,” said Keith. “Also, I’m sorry, but did you just call me mullet?”

Lance grinned. “Yeah.”

“Please don’t.”

“Then don’t have a mullet.”

“With that logic,” said Keith, “I should call you Curly Hair. Or Blue Eyes.”

“Aww, you noticed the colour of my eyes? I’m flattered,” said Lance playfully, fluttering his eyelashes at Keith.

Keith’s face heated up. He grabbed a cushion and threw it at Lance as hard as he could. “I didn’t notice _deliberately_. I just looked at your eyes when I was speaking to you, like a normal fucking person.”

Lance yelped as the cushion hit him. “That’s what they all say,” he claimed, waggling his eyebrows.

Keith scowled. “Why are you so _weird_?”

“Calling me weird is _not_ how you make a good start with new neighbours. I hope you’ll be more polite to Hunk when you meet him.”

“I’m ignoring you,” said Keith, putting his earphones back in.

Fortunately, Shiro came back a couple of minutes later. He was astonished to see Lance. “Got locked out again?” he guessed.

Lance nodded. “You know me so well,” he laughed.

“Well, we’ve only been neighbours for a few months and this is the third time it’s happened,” chuckled Shiro. “But I don’t mind having you around.” He raised an eyebrow at his younger brother, who was curled up on the couch listening to music. “Hey, Keith.”

Keith removed his earphones. “Hey, Shiro.”

“I take it you let Lance in?”

Keith pulled a face. “Yeah.”

“Well, it’s good that you two met already,” smiled Shiro. “Because I was thinking of asking Hunk and Lance over to dinner sometime this week.” He turned to Lance. “Is that okay? You guys cooked for me last time, so I figured I’d return the favour _and_ let you meet your new neighbour.”

“Thanks, Shiro,” said Lance enthusiastically. “I’ll tell Hunk, I’m sure he’d love to come.” His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he checked it. “Would you believe it, Hunk’s on his way up now, so I’ll actually be going. Thanks for the dinner invite Shiro, and thanks for letting me chill with you, Keith.”

One cheery smile and slam of the front door later, he was gone. Keith let out a sigh of relief, sinking down further into the sofa. “Jeez, Shiro, your neighbours are…something.”

“Lance is a lovely guy,” said Shiro. “He’s just very full of life. He loves people.”

“Yeah, and I don’t.”

Shiro gave him a look. “Keith, we’ve talked about this. You’re just-“

“Socially inept because I was bullied for the first ten years of my life and consequently have a hard time letting my walls down and trusting people?”

Shiro sighed and walked over to the sofa, sitting beside Keith and putting an arm around him. Keith buried his face in Shiro’s shoulder, for once glad to be comforted by his older brother. “ _You’re_ a lovely guy too, Keith,” insisted Shiro. “You just need bringing out of your shell a little.”

Keith grunted and reached for the TV remote. “Wanna watch a film?”

Shiro put on _The Lion King_ , which had been Keith’s favourite movie when he was a kid, as he sensed Keith needed the warmth of nostalgia. As suspected, a couple of hours later Keith was out of his funk, and was laughing and joking with Shiro as he helped him make dinner.

They didn’t see Lance again until the day after next. Shiro informed Keith that both Lance and his friend/flatmate, Hunk, attended university. Keith slept in late on Friday, the day after he’d moved in, and then went out for a walk while Shiro was at work (he taught at an academy for space exploration), acquainting himself with the local area and registering at the gym, a place where Shiro spent a lot of time and he planned to as well.

On Saturday, the evening of which Lance and Hunk were to come to dinner, he was woken up by a loud banging noise coming from their apartment. He tried to ignore it and go back to sleep, but burying himself in three layers of blankets did nothing to lessen the deafening sound. Eventually, in a fit of rage, he kicked them away and leapt out of bed before storming out of the apartment, striding across the hallway and knocking loudly on Lance’s door. When the door didn’t open and the banging continued, he put his mouth to the keyhole and yelled loudly. “OPEN UP!”

The door was opened immediately by someone Keith had never seen before; Lance’s flatmate, presumably. He was big, both in size and height, and had dark brown skin and thick black hair that partially covered his forehead. His expression was friendly and somewhat apologetic.

“I’m so sorry,” stammered Keith, who had assumed Lance was making the noise. He thrust out his hand. “I’m Keith, nice to meet you.”

The guy laughed and shook his hand. “Interesting way to introduce yourself.”

“I really am so sorry. I was just in a bad mood because your banging woke me up, but of course it’s none of my business.”

“Me? No, that was Lance.” The guy beckoned him inside. “Come on in. I’m Hunk, by the way.” He turned to look at someone inside the room. “Lance, you’re waking the neighbours up!”

Keith curiously stepped through the doorway into the apartment. It was simply decorated, with a cream carpet and light blue walls. To the left was a kitchen area, and to the right were two couches, a coffee table and a TV. He saw Lance standing by the wall with a hammer in his hand, and glared at him. “Do you realise it’s 7 o’ clock in the morning?!”

“Sorry, I didn’t realise people would be able to hear it.”

“It’s a bloody hammer, of course I could hear it! I’m surprised you didn’t wake half of London.”

Lance snorted with laughter, then clamped a hand over his mouth, peeking at Keith apologetically. “I really am sorry. Although, 7 o’ clock isn’t that early, you know. The sun rose a long time ago.”

“It’s early for me,” grumbled Keith, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

“Nice SpongeBob pyjamas,” remarked Lance.

Keith glanced down and quickly folded both arms over his torso. “They’re not actually pyjamas,” he said. “My aunt gave this shirt to me a few years ago for Christmas. I didn’t want to wear it in public, but I wanted to make use of it somehow.”

“Of course you did.”

“What were you doing with that dammed hammer, anyway?” demanded Keith. Since he was the one who got woken up by it, it was only fair he knew the reason, he’d decided.

“I was putting a nail in the wall, to hang this photograph up.” Lance walked over and picked up a framed photo from the couch, showing it to Keith. “It’s my family. Look, there’s my mama, and my papa, and all my siblings, and their children,” he explained, pointing them all out. His tone was fond, and as Keith gave him a sideways glance, he saw that his bright eyes were soft and loving as he gazed at the picture. Keith was unable to look away for a few seconds, captivated by the happiness he saw in Lance’s face. When he did, he noticed that the room was already decorated with various photos of Lance’s family. They stood on every available surface and hung in every blank piece of wall.

“You must really miss them, huh?” Keith whispered, almost to himself.

Lance looked up and met Keith’s eyes, and smiled wistfully. “Yeah, I really do. But it will be winter break soon, and I’ll be with them for a whole month.”

Keith smiled back, too occupied with his own thoughts to realise that this was actually the first time he and Lance had interacted without arguing.

“Would you like to stay for breakfast, Keith?” Hunk asked, interrupting their little moment.

Keith suddenly remembered what he’d been doing here in the first place. “No, thanks,” he said. “I’m actually gonna try and get a couple more hours’ sleep.”

“You lazy thing,” scoffed Lance. “The best part of the day is the early morning.”

“I respectfully disagree.”

“Whatever, mullet.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Do you always insult new neighbours?”

“No, but then again I’ve never had a neighbour with a mullet before.” Lance grabbed his photo and walked back over to the wall to hang it up. “I’ll see you later, mullet.”

“Yeah, we’ll see you for dinner,” Hunk smiled.

Keith smiled back before returning to his- or Shiro’s- apartment. He did try to go back to sleep, but after half an hour passed and he hadn’t caught a second of shuteye, he sighed and left his bed again, instead taking residence on the sofa to watch TV. While he did, he thought about his new neighbours. He decided that he liked Hunk, and he could tolerate Lance. It wasn’t that he disliked Lance. He just didn’t _like_ him. They couldn’t seem to be in the same room together without arguing.

Shiro’s puppy, Cosmo, had entered the room without Keith noticing, and Keith gasped when he suddenly jumped onto his lap. He was a golden cocker spaniel, and Shiro had only had him for about six months.

Keith petted the puppy gently, talking to him in a baby voice. He giggled when Cosmo licked his face, pressing his paws against Keith’s shoulders. “Aww, are you trying to give me a kiss?”

He managed to get the puppy to settle down, and flicked through the TV channels looking for something to watch. He found a movie that sounded good and sat back to enjoy it, stroking Cosmo as the puppy curled up on his lap.


	2. Chapter 2

“What are you cooking?” asked Keith, poking his head around the kitchen door.

“Pasta,” replied Shiro. “Will you go and set the table?”

Keith obligingly laid out their nicest red cloth on the dining table, then put out four place mats, each with a knife and fork beside it. He spent ages fiddling with everything, making sure it all lined up perfectly. He had no idea why, he just wanted it to look professional. Finally, he put a plate of buttered bread slices and bowl of grated cheese in the middle of the table.

Hunk and Lance arrived on the dot of 6 PM. Keith opened the door, greeting Lance with a roll of the eyes and Hunk with a handshake. Lance huffed and went ahead into the kitchen to see Shiro. “Want me to help you serve?” he asked, as Shiro filled four bowls with pasta.

“That’s _my_ job,” protested Keith, from behind him.

“Alright, mullet. You can wait on me,” said Lance, winking.

“Why are you so weird?” grumbled Keith, squeezing past him and grabbing two of the bowls.

“You know you love it,” said Lance, following Keith to the table and sitting down.

“As a matter of fact, I don’t.” Keith put the bowls down, deliberately not putting either of them where Lance was. Lance simply shuffled over to the next chair, to which Keith stuck out his tongue in response.

Dinner was pleasant enough. Shiro enquired after Hunk’s girlfriend, Shay, and Lance and Hunk shared stories from uni, filling Keith in on any details he didn’t know. Lance was very funny recounting things his professor had said, even imitating his voice, and at one point Keith laughed so hard he almost spat out his drink.

He decided that he didn’t mind this Lance. The Lance who wasn’t constantly trying to wind him up. Keith liked his goofy personality and how natural he was; unlike Keith, who was awkward and shy, Lance said anything that came to mind, and usually said it extremely loudly.

All in all, he enjoyed dinner way more than he’d been expecting to. In fact, he was almost sorry to see Hunk and Lance go- although of course, they only lived across the hallway.

The following days passed without event. Keith barely saw Lance, only occasionally bumping into him on the stairs, and Lance was usually in a hurry and didn’t have time to annoy him. Luckily, Keith wasn’t disturbed by any more of his loud noises, and had no reason to go and yell at his door.

The next Saturday, exactly a week since Hunk and Lance came to dinner, Keith was coming back from the gym. It was mid-afternoon, and although the air was cold, the sky was clear blue. He walked with a slight bounce in his step and hummed under his breath, in a good mood after an hour or so exercising. His damp black hair was still tied back in a ponytail at the base of his neck, and he knew he probably looked like shit, but he didn’t care. He’d have a shower when he got inside.

As he approached the entrance to the block of flats, he frowned. Lance was sitting on the dirty ground, clutching his ankle. When he saw Keith coming, he pretending to be fiddling with his shoe, but Keith wasn’t fooled.

“Lance, are you okay?” he asked, coming to a standstill when he reached his neighbour.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Lance avoided eye contact as he said this.

“Has anyone every told you you’re a terrible liar? Because you are. What’s wrong?” Keith crouched down and offered Lance a hand. Lance took it, but made no move to get up.

“I tripped over my shoelaces,” said Lance. “I think I’ve hurt my ankle.”

“Can you walk on it?”

“I’ll try.” Lance used Keith’s hand to pull himself up, gripping it tightly. “Jeez, your palm is sweaty.”

“I’ve just been to the gym,” said Keith indignantly. In contrast, Lance’s palm was smooth and cool against his, but he refused to think about that. This was _Lance_ , for god’s sake.

Lance tried to put weight on his ankle. His face screwed up in pain, and he let out a small gasp. “Don’t worry. I’m okay.”

“No, you’re not,” said Keith. “Want me to take you to the doctor? It’s not far.”

“No, no, it’s fine. Just help me get upstairs. Hunk will take me when he gets back.”

Getting up the stairs was a near impossible task when Lance could barely stand. After he’d half walked, half hopped up the first two steps, panting heavily and holding onto Keith’s shoulder, Keith sighed. “I’m gonna have to carry you.”

Lance’s eyes widened. “WHAT?” he yelped. “No way. Nooo way. No.”

“It’s only two flights,” argued Keith. “You’ll damage yourself further if you try and get up like this.”

Lance wavered. “Well…if you drop me, you’ll never hear the end of it,” he warned.

“I won’t drop you.”

“Not even on purpose?”

Keith snorted with laughter. “Don’t give me ideas!”

Lance grinned. “Alright. Go for it, mullet.” He gasped as Keith swept him off his feet, cradling him in his arms. “Wow! I feel like a princess.”

“Yeah, well, you sure don’t act like one.”

“I heard that!”

Keith walked up the stairs slowly, being careful not to drop Lance. He was surprisingly heavy for someone so thin; but then, Lance wore such baggy hoodies it was difficult to tell what his actual body shape was. He clung on tightly, his arms wrapped around Keith’s neck, and Keith could feel his breath on his cheek.

An old couple walked past them, and Lance groaned in embarrassment and buried his face in Keith’s shoulder. “I want to die. Why did I let you do this?”

“Because you trust me. And can you please stop holding my neck so tightly? I can barely breathe.”

Lance huffed and loosened his grip. “Are we there yet?”

“Almost. We’re in the hallway now.”

Once they were inside Lance’s apartment, Keith gently laid him down on the couch.

“Thank you,” said Lance gratefully, smiling up at him.

Keith smiled back. Lance actually looked kind of cute lying there, with his dark hair tousled and a light blush spread across his cheeks. Yeah. Lance was cute, he decided.

Now to check what was up with his ankle. A task Keith didn’t want to do, but which had to be done.

“What are you doing?” asked Lance, as Keith unlaced his shoes and took them off.

“Since you don’t want to go the doctor’s, I’m going to check if your ankle is broken or not,” said Keith, sitting on the couch and pulling Lance’s feet into his lap. “Which one is it?” he asked, ignoring Lance’s mumbled complaints. Lance pointed. “Mind if I take your sock off?”

“I do mind,” grumbled Lance. “But if you have to, go ahead.”

Keith felt his ankle gently and moved his foot into different positions, observing Lance’s responses. At last, he said, “I think you’ve just sprained it. You’ll need to rest it for a few weeks.”

“A few weeks?” cried Lance. “Well…I suppose my professor can send me everything I need by email. But I’ll be so bored.”

“You’ve got Hunk.”

“He’s at uni four days a week, and he does tons of extracurricular stuff. He’s barely ever here.”

“Jeez, Lance, you’re old? Nineteen? You can entertain yourself,” said Keith, removing Lance’s feet from his lap and standing up.

Lance reached out and grabbed his hand, gazing at him pleadingly. “Keep me company? Just for an hour or so every other day?”

Keith suddenly became hyper aware of the fact that his hair was still damp with sweat and tied in a scruffy ponytail, and he probably stank to high heaven. He pulled his hand free of Lance’s grip, but Lance didn’t stop looking at him like an abandoned puppy. He frowned. “Why should I? You only want me to hang out with you because you’re injured. Once you’re better, you won’t give a shit about me anymore.”

Lance’s jaw dropped, then he looked hurt. “Keith, that’s not true,” he insisted. “I know we haven’t known each other for very long, but you seem like a nice guy. That’s why I want to hang out with you. This is just the perfect time to do it.”

“We literally fight every time we’re together.”

“I know, but that’s just because we got off to a bad start. Sure, maybe we’ll never be best friends, but we’re neighbours, and I’m friends with Shiro. We should at least try and get along. I don’t actually dislike you.”

Keith thought it over. “Well…I guess you’re right. I’ll hang out with you. It might be fun.” 

“Awesome!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay they're finally friends (kinda). next chapter will see them bonding together a lot more, the first two are just setting them up to a place where they can actually interact lol


	3. Chapter 3

Hanging out with an injured Lance was not fun, as Keith soon discovered. He was a vivacious person who was constantly moving; whenever Keith saw him on the stairwell, he would be running, or jumping down two steps at a time. Even when talking, he accompanied his speech with hand gestures, his arms moving at top speed. So he hated having to lie on the couch with his leg up, his ankle covered with ice packs, and complained loudly every chance he got.

Although he and Keith had struck some sort of truce, Keith still didn’t _like_ Lance. They’d reached a point where he could be in Lance’s vicinity without feeling annoyed, but despite their interactions being friendlier now, arguing was still their default mode of communication. Lance still called Keith mullet (although his obsession was starting to make Keith think he actually liked it), but to Keith’s annoyance, there wasn’t anything unique enough about Lance to make a good nickname. Not that Lance was average looking, of course; in Keith’s private opinion, he was gorgeous, and if Keith checked him out a couple of times when Lance wasn’t looking, well, nobody had to know.

“Snap has got to be the worst fucking game ever invented,” grumbled Keith, as he dealt the cards out for the second time.

“Snap is amazing,” said Lance defensively. “It’s just unfortunate that you’re the only one who’ll play it with me.”

“Is that supposed to be an insult towards me, or a general lamentation that you can’t play snap more often?”

“Both.”

It was Keith’s second day of chilling with Lance. Yesterday had been Monopoly (Keith won, which resulted in Lance flipping the board and making him crawl under the sofa searching for all the pieces), and today was snap, a game which Lance loved and everyone else in his life invariably hated. Keith was quickly becoming one of those people.

“Alright, let’s start. I’m gonna beat you this time, Lancey Lance.”

Lance gasped as he picked up his cards, pressing them together with his hands to shape them into a perfect rectangle. “That’s such a cute nickname!”

“It wasn’t supposed to be cute,” said Keith. “I was trying to mock you. Assert my dominance.”

Lance laughed and put his top card onto the table. “Well, it had the opposite effect. It’s your turn, Keithy Keith.”

Keith placed his card down, watching the pile with eagle eyes. He had a powerful longing to beat Lance at this game, thus maintaining his winning streak from Monopoly, and he wouldn’t give up until it had been fulfilled.

To his annoyance, Lance was just a bit too quick.

“SNAP!” he yelled, literally a second before Keith, smacking his palm onto the table and scooping the cards up into his hand.

Keith gritted his teeth. “Fluke. I’ll get the next one.”

“In your dreams, Mr Mullet.”

A minute later, there was another matching pair. Both shouted ‘snap’ at the same time, and Keith slapped his palm onto the cards. Lance’s own palm followed a millisecond later, but hit the top of Keith’s hand instead. They sat in tense silence before turning slowly to stare at each other.

“That was a draw,” hissed Lance.

“I touched them first,” insisted Keith.

This drew Lance’s attention to the fact that his hand was still resting on top of Keith’s. He reluctantly pulled it away before sitting back on the sofa, picking up his can of diet coke and taking a sip. “Fine, I’ll let you have those cards.”

“Thank you,” said Keith smugly, adding them to his hand.

As usual, Lance won Snap in the end. Keith suspected there was some cheating going on, but he decided to let Lance have his win. After all, he _was_ the invalid here.

“I think that’s enough Snap for today,” said Keith firmly, tucking the cards back into their box. “What time does Hunk get home?”

“In two hours.”

“Alright.” Keith got up and went to the fridge, helping himself to a can of ginger ale. “How’s the foot?”

“Same as it was when you asked me half an hour ago,” said Lance cheekily, wriggling his injured ankle. His leg was propped up on a footstool. Keith gave him a look. “It’s fine!”

“Good.” Keith re-joined him on the sofa, propping his own feet up beside Lance’s. It was amazing how at home he already felt in this apartment. “What do you want to do now?”

“Why don’t we see what’s on TV?” suggested Lance. “I saw some good films in the telly mag this morning.”

“Sounds perfect.”

 

“Did you have a good time at Lance’s?” Shiro asked cheerfully, when he returned two hours later.

Keith shrugged. “It was alright.”

“I knew you two would grow on each other,” said Shiro, crouching down and emptying a packet of dog food into Cosmo’s purple bowl.

“We haven’t,” said Keith, sticking his tongue out even though Shiro couldn’t see. “I don’t like him.” Before Shiro could respond, he quickly headed for the front door. “I’m going to the gym. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

“Alright, see ya.”

 

Keith wondered why he didn’t just refuse to hang out with Lance. The obvious answer was that it was fun, but he would never in a million years admit to having fun with Lance, not even to himself. In any case, Snap was now his deadly enemy. No way was he playing that again.

The next morning, Lance had come up with the bright idea of playing video games. Keith happily obliged, feeling that this was definitely something at which he’d be better than Lance. As Lance couldn’t get up, Keith had to dig through the cabinet looking for the controllers.

“What game do you want to play?” he asked, tossing a controller over to Lance. Lance wasn’t ready, but he just about caught it.

“Mario Kart. It’s my go-to. A timeless classic.”

Keith turned away to hide his smile as he searched through a plastic box of DVDs and games to find it. He was good at Mario Kart. He even beat Shiro sometimes, and Shiro had been playing for a hell of a lot longer than he had. “You any good at it?”

“I’m _awesome_ ,” bragged Lance, as Keith slotted the disc into the console and dived back onto the sofa, grabbing his own controller. “I’m the youngest sibling, but I give my family a run for their money.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah!”

The characters screen came up. Lance selected Yoshi and Keith selected Luigi. After they’d customised their cars, it was time to pick a cup.

“Rainbow Road?” suggested Lance, grinning at Keith.

“Maybe we should start off a _little_ easier, to warm up…”

“Oh, are you scared?”

Keith glared at him. “No. Let’s do it.”

“Sure thing.” Lance selected the lightning cup, and they both silenced and prepared to concentrate.

Unlike Lance, whose eyes kept darting to Keith’s screen, Keith had long since learned to zone out everything else completely and focus only on what he was doing. He didn’t even look at his place at the top of the screen until the race was over. He allowed himself a triumphant smile when he saw he’d come first.

“No fair!” pouted Lance, who was in second. “I’m injured!”

Keith laughed so hard his stomach hurt. “What, do you play this game with your toes?”

“Well, no, but I’m pretty sure the pain in my ankle affects my ability to concentrate.”

“Wait, is it really bad? Do you need painkillers?” Keith asked, getting quickly to his feet.

“No, I was just kidding,” said Lance, amused. Keith sat down again. “But it’s nice to know you care.”

Keith stuck out his tongue. “I don’t. I just don’t want to have to listen to you complaining,” he lied.

“Sureee.”

Neither of them even realised the next race was starting until they heard the countdown, then they both snatched up their controllers and hunched over, eyes fixed on the screen.

Piranha Plant Pipeway was an awkward track and it was easy to get knocked off. Lance gritted his teeth when he glanced at the top of the screen and saw he was in fifth while Keith was in second. It was time to resort to drastic measures. He shuffled over as subtly as he could, then leaned sideways and nudged Keith, careful not to lose control of his own car. Keith almost dropped his controller, causing his car to fall off the track.

“Lance, that’s cheating!” he grumbled, realising that he was now in fourth place and Lance was in third. He was going to have to do something. He waited until he was on a straight piece of the track, then let go of the controller with his left hand and reached out, grabbing at Lance’s side.

Lance squealed and brought his arms down to cover himself, but kept control of his car. Keith wasn’t giving up, and went to squeeze Lance’s knee. Lance laughed out loud and grabbed Keith’s hand to stop him, dropping his controller onto his lap.

“That’s way worse than what I did,” he cried, picking up his controller and fighting to regain his place. Keith was now in third and he was in sixth. Keith didn’t answer, concentrating and managing to get into second place. “Hey! Oh, you’re going down, mullet.” Lance leaned his whole body in front of Keith, blocking his view of the screen while still frantically working his controller.

“Fuck off!” Keith tried to use his shoulder to push him away, but Lance pushed back. Both snorting with laughter, they fought for the upper hand.

Eventually, Lance crossed the finishing line just a second before Keith. He punched the air and cheered happily before collapsing against Keith, panting. “That was fun.”

Keith gently shoved him away, but a light blush was on his cheeks. “I’m gonna beat you at the next one. As long as you don’t cheat.”

“Okay, I’ll make a deal. We can cheat on this next one, but no cheating on Rainbow Road,” said Lance, eyes twinkling playfully as he held out his hand.

Keith suppressed a smile as he shook his head, grasping Lance’s hand and shaking it firmly.

Every form of cheating imaginable was used in the next race, resulting in Keith finishing tenth and Lance finishing twelfth. As Rainbow Road appeared on the screen, they settled back down. Keith shot Lance a serious look, trying to intimidate him, but Lance crossed his eyes and stuck his tongue out, making Keith snort with laughter.

Keith was in the lead for most of the race, but in the final lap Lance got lucky and had two red shells in succession, knocking out the people in front of him and making him and Keith neck and neck. When they got the last items of the race, Keith got a coin, to his annoyance, but Lance had a green shell. Narrowing his eyes, he aimed carefully and managed to hit Keith, knocking him off the track and speeding ahead and over the finishing line.

“Yes!” he yelled, dropping his controller and getting up, punching the air with both hands. Then he winced in pain and sat back down. “Dammit, I can’t do my victory dance! I’ll just have to improvise.” He wriggled his body where he was sitting, moving his hands in time to the game’s music.

Keith laughed until tears formed in his eyes. “You’re such a dork,” he said, gazing at Lance with a soft smile on his face.

“What was that? I can’t get hear you over the crowd screaming my name,” Lance teased, putting his hand behind his ear. “Also, loser has to put the controllers away.”

“I’d have to put them away anyway,” Keith pointed out.

Lance wasn’t listening. He was taking a picture of the screen with his phone. “I’m gonna put my victory on snapchat. Wait, do you have a snapchat?”

“Uh, no?”

He sighed. “Hand me your phone. I’ll make one for you.”

 

The next few days continued in much the same way. Within a couple of weeks, Lance was walking with crutches, so he was out and about again. To Keith’s disappointment, he barely saw him in the first week of his recovery- only briefly in the hallway. Lance didn’t send him anything on snapchat, and Keith didn’t want to in case he said the wrong thing.

One morning, he was relaxing on the sofa and playing with Cosmo when the doorbell rang. He opened it to see Lance standing outside. Having not seen him for a week or so, he was taken by surprise, and it took him a moment to realise that he wasn’t using crutches.

“Wow, look at you!” he exclaimed. “All recovered?”

“Yep! It still hurts a bit, but nothing major,” said Lance, with his usual friendly grin. “Anyway, the reason I’m here is because I want to ask you to come out with me.”

“Where?” asked Keith, confused.

“Well, I need to repay you somehow for helping me out,” said Lance, rubbing the back of his neck bashfully. “You know, you carried me to my flat and then kept me company while I was stranded there. I know a really nice café, so I can treat you to lunch there. If you want, of course.”

Keith was taken aback by Lance’s generosity. “You don’t have to repay me,” he insisted. “I did what any decent person would’ve done.”

“But I _want_ to repay you,” said Lance, with a smile. “Come on, it’ll be fun.”

Keith thought for a few seconds, then laughed. “Okay, sure.” He grabbed his coat and sent a quick text to Shiro, informing him that he was with Lance, then left the flat, locking the door carefully behind him.

“The café that I was talking about, we’ll have to take the tube to get there,” Lance told him as they walked down the stairs together. “If you prefer, we can go to a nearer one.”

“No, it’s fine. I’ve not been on the tube yet, anyway.”

“You got an oyster card?”

“Yep,” Keith assured him, patting his coat pocket.

It was brisk weather, with a cloudy grey sky and cold winds. Lance shivered as they hurried along the busy pavement. “If I’d known it was this cold, I’d have brought a scarf and gloves.”

“I have gloves,” said Keith, digging around in his pocket. “Do you want them?”

“No, no, they’re yours. You wear them.”

“I need to repay you for this treat,” said Keith jokingly, holding the gloves out. Lance laughed and took them, slipping them onto his hands.

“Great, now I’ll have to repay you a second time!”

“I’m holding you to that!”

Lance laughed again and shook his head. “Look, there’s the tube station.”

Keith followed Lance down the steps. They then took an escalator further underground. There were tons of signs for different platforms, but Lance obviously knew where he was going so Keith stuck close to him, careful not to lose him in the crowd.

They finally reached their platform. A train arrived almost immediately, and Lance grabbed Keith’s arm and pulled him into a carriage. It was absolutely packed, and they had to stand up.

“We get off at the next stop, so it’s no big deal,” said Lance.

“I didn’t think it would be so busy,” said Keith, almost losing his footing as the train set off. He hastily grabbed a pole, clinging to it for dear life.

“That’s the London underground for you,” grinned Lance.

The journey took less than five minutes. When they reached their stop, they went up another escalator, through the gates and up more stairs until they were back out in the fresh air. The café was just around the corner. Inside, it was deliciously warm and cosy, and was decorated with paintings of different types of flowers. They found a small table by a window, and squeezed in.

“Well,” said Lance, smiling at Keith across the table. “Here we are.”

Keith smiled back, shrugging off his coat and picking up a menu. “I suppose I should try a cup of tea.”

Lance’s jaw dropped. “You’ve never had tea?”

“Nope.”

“Then of course you must. I’ll have some too.” Lance picked up his own menu and flicked through it, although he didn’t really need to as he’d been here several times. “What are you gonna have for lunch?”

“I think I’m gonna have macaroni cheese. What about you?”

“I’ll have a baked potato with tuna.”

A waitress came up and took their order, then they settled down to wait. Keith stared shyly at Lance as he fidgeted with his fork, rubbing it with his thumb. In their time together at Lance’s flat, they’d never really talked. They’d mostly just played games and watched telly, bantering back and forth like an old married couple. He wanted to get to know Lance.

Lance put his elbow on the table and rested his chin on his hand, oblivious to Keith’s thoughts as he surveyed the room. The sun had broken through the clouds and was shining through the window, turning Lance’s dark hair the colour of honey and making his brown skin glow. Not for the first time, it occurred to Keith how incredibly handsome Lance was, and his stomach filled with butterflies.

“So,” said Lance, breaking the silence and turning to look at Keith. A small smile was on his face. “Where are you from?”

“Oh, are we doing a Q and A now?”

Lance thanked the waitress as she brought the tea, then lifted the pot and poured some into his cup. “Yeah. If you don’t mind,” he grinned, pushing the pot towards Keith.

“I don’t.” Keith poured some tea out then raised the cup to his lips, sipping it curiously. “I’m from Texas.”

“Tea nice?”

“Yeah, it’s great,” said Keith enthusiastically, taking another, bigger sip.

“Texas, huh? Can I ask what brought you here?”

Keith shrugged. “I was supposed to go to college this year but I can’t decide what to do so I’m taking a year off. Shiro lives here because he works at some space exploration thing, and my dad suggested I come stay with him for a bit. I’ve always been closer to Shiro than my parents, so I was happy to.”

Lance nodded. The conversation lulled for a moment as the waitress returned, placing their food in front of them.

“So where are you from?” Keith asked through a mouthful of macaroni cheese.

“I was born in Cuba, but my family lives in Miami.”

“Cool.”

“It’s not cool,” said Lance teasingly. “In fact, it gets very hot in the summer.”

Keith rolled his eyes. They ate in silence for a few minutes, then he brought up the topic of Shiro’s new boyfriend. “He’s called Adam.”

“Ooh. Have you met him yet?”

“No, but he’s coming over this week I think. Shiro’s been going on about him non-stop since they started dating.”

“That actually reminds me,” said Lance. “I was wondering if you’d like to meet some of mine and Hunk’s friends? Only two of them. We’re a pretty tight knit group.”

Keith bit his lip, the familiar feeling of anxiety rising within him. But he knew he had to push himself if he was going to conquer it, and he did want to meet Lance’s friends, so he nodded. “Sure. I’d love to.”

“Perfect. I’ll text them to ask for a time and place, then I’ll text you. You’re not too busy, are you?”

“Not really. I spend most of my time at the gym.”

“That’s sorted then. I’ll arrange something.”

They started arguing over the colour of the menus- Lance said they were brown, Keith insisted they were yellow- and before long they’d finished eating. They were both too full for dessert, so they sat and drank tea for ten minutes before getting up to leave. As he’d promised, Lance paid the bill.

“Thanks for today, Lance,” said Keith gratefully, as they walked down the hallway in the apartment block.

“Hey, it’s no problem. I was thanking _you_.” They were outside Lance’s door now, and Lance took his key out of his pocket. “I’ll see you soon, yeah?”

“Sure.” Keith waited until Lance had gone inside before opening his own door. He collapsed onto the sofa and picked up his phone, opening snapchat. Earlier that day, when they were at the cafe, Lance had persuaded Keith to take a selfie with him. The photo was on there now; Lance’s arm was around Keith’s shoulder, and he was beaming happily at the camera. Keith looked slightly nervous, but nevertheless had a smile on his face. It made him smile now to see it. They looked just like two best friends out on a lunch date. Which is, he realised as he put his phone away, exactly what they were. Perhaps not _best_ friends, but they’d come a long way.

 


End file.
